Monroe County jail's warden fires new captain

Monroe County Correctional Facility's newly hired captain has been fired less than two weeks into the job.

PAULA HEESCHEN

STROUDSBURG — Monroe County Correctional Facility's newly hired captain has been fired less than two weeks into the job.

New jail Warden Marlene Chamblee dismissed John Corridoni, an 18-year veteran of the Luzerne County Correctional Facility's staff, Wednesday at the direction of the prison board. For a scant week, he was third in command at the institution in Snydersville, serving under the warden and Deputy Warden Daniel Slashinski.

The county hired Corridoni on Jan. 7 as captain for a salary of $40,384. Monroe County Commissioner Donna Asure, who serves as prison board president, said the board conducted the National Crime Information Center background check, consulted Corridoni's references and interviewed Corridoni twice before hiring him. "Nothing ever came up," she said.

The county hired Corridoni for his years of experience and that "people in the field said he was a good employee," Asure said.

However, acting on a tip after the hire, they did an Internet search and learned Corridoni had been accused of assault in several separate incidents by inmates in the Luzerne County prison and had been investigated by Luzerne's District Attorney's Office. No charges were ever filed.

"He apparently made a mistake and unfortunately didn't share that," Asure said. "Had we known up front, maybe things would have turned out differently. After all, Monroe County Correctional Facility is all about second chances."

Luzerne County prison Warden Gene Fischi did not return phone calls about Corridoni. However, last year Fischi recommended Corridoni be fired and asked the District Attorney's Office to investigate whether the captain should face criminal charges. The office did investigate Corridoni at prison officials' request.

The DA's office decided there was insufficient evidence to charge Corridoni for two of the cases, Assistant DA Jeff Tokach said this week. One involved an inmate who alleged that after an argument with Corridoni and another prison employee, he was beaten and choked. The other inmate claimed Corridoni had forced him to lie face down in dirty shower water.

Tokach said the DA's office concluded that charges may have been appropriate in a case involving inmate Jahkel Lamar, but Lamar did not wish to pursue the case.

Asure said she felt confident Corridoni's firing would not stall the Monroe County jail's turnaround from the turmoil and low morale resulting from a sex scandal during 2007 that involved members of the prison staff. Several of those officers have pleaded to charges and received sentences.

"This should in no way reflect on the 'positiveness' that's happened out there," Asure said. "I commend the new warden for immediately taking action. We found a glitch, we addressed it immediately, and we are moving forward."